Bitten
by MSCIBET
Summary: Castle and Beckett try to avoid the 'issue' while working an unusual case.  Now COMPLETE.
1. Crash

Title: Bitten

Rating: PG13/T

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of ABC. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of Castle. No copyright infringement is intended.

Synopsis: Castle and Beckett work through their feelings while working a most bizarre case.

Chapter 1 - Crash

"So what do you say about us hitting the ice cream place around the corner?" Castle leaned over and shoulder bumped Alexis as they strolled down the street after stopping for pizza.

Looking up at her father, she curled her arm into his and squeezed. The two were as close as a parent could get with a child. Castle knew that past of that had to be her being wise beyond her years. Sometimes he wondered who exactly was the adult when they ran around the loft playing laser tag and dress up.

"I think that would a wonderful idea. Of course with those little," Alexis stopped and looked above her as she heard noises coming from up above. Looking up above her, Castle pulled her back as a shadowy figure crashed through the awning and landed where she had just stood.

Hearing her scream, Castle took her and whipped her into his body as the figure landed in front of them with the thud. "Dad?"

"Don't turn around," he warned as slowly the pavement was painted red. Keeping one arm around his daughter, he pulled his phone out and hit the speed dial.

"What do you want Castle?" Beckett responded after seeing his name on the caller ID. She thought she had been perfectly clear that she was spending the night reading and relaxing.

"A body."

Beckett laughed. "Castle, are you drinking?"

"No, there's a body." For someone usually known to write for a living, the words wouldn't come to him the way he had hoped. Something about holding his daughter next to him made the words more difficult.

"Castle…"

"Beckett, a body fell from the sky. 54th and 2nd near Pinkberry. You might want to get down here." Beckett listened to the twinge in his voice and felt he couldn't be pulling her leg. He was a jokester but he wasn't joking. "I need to take Alexis home. Are you coming?"

Beckett paused. Alexis saw it and that was nail that made her believe the story wasn't a joke. "I'm on my way. Ten minutes."

Castle hung up the phone and shoved it back in his pocket as a crowd started to gather. "Dad?"

He watched as Alexis turned slightly in his grip. "Alexis," Castle strained as she pulled from him to turn around. Castle watched his daughter as she stared at the body on the pavement.

"Do you think that someone in the building did this? Couldn't the person get away?" Castle knew what she was implying.

"Just so you remember that the last time I was caught with a dead body, I was arrested by Beckett and you had to come get me from the station." He tried to joke, but was more concerned by the minute shivering that Alexis was doing in his arm.

Castle continued to stand with her, watching as she seemed to size up the event in front of her. He watched as people took pictures and gasped at the body that clearly was helped out of the building.

"So what do you got?" He heard her delicious voice behind him as Beckett appeared in jeans and a simple purple button down shirt. She looked around Castle's shoulder and saw the body, still wrapped in the awning that he came through. Turning and looking at Alexis first, she hugged her around the other shoulder and then swallowed as she looked at Castle.

She usually called him or found him when a body showed up. She glanced in his direction and saw the concern on his face as Esposito and Ryan came from around the corner. "Guys," she pointed at the people that still snapped pictures, now of her and Castle more than the body. Leaning into Castle and in front of Alexis as much as possible, she whispered, "Go home. Take care of her. I'll give you the rundown tomorrow."

Castle nodded as he felt her hand on his shoulder and gazed at her as she ran her hand down Alexis' hair. She smiled at Alexis as Castle pulled her in the opposite direction. She watched as the guys dispersed the crowd and Lanie passed Castle on the sidewalk.

Lanie saw the look on Beckett's face as Beckett ran her hand through her hair. "Not a good situation huh?"

"Alexis saw the whole thing. I'll talk to her soon, but Castle's taking her home." Beckett turned and put her hands on her hips. "So what do you think?"

Lanie walked around the body before putting her gloves and started making notes. Pulling the awning back from the face, the gruesome sight didn't quite appear as a face anymore. Putting the vinyl back down, she shook her head. "Not sure without moving it how many bones broke, but I can tell you that out vic was dead way before falling from up above."

Beckett looked at the torn awning as Ryan tried to calm the store clerk that had just arrived on the scene. The man stared at the body complaining how much the incident would hurt his business and the damage it had caused. Beckett passed him and worked her way around to get a clear view of the building. "Esposito, get a canvas out on the area and thorough look at that floor up there." Esposito looked up and could see the material that waved in the small breeze.

"Lanie, is the vic missing any clothing?"

Lanie lifted the bottom of the awning. "Pant leg is torn."

Beckett nodded at Esposito who followed her up into the building. On the fifth floor, she pushed an open door ajar in the newly renovated space. No signs of forced entry were present and there was no typical blood stain on the new floors or drywall. The building was clean except for the window. Walking up to the window, she ran her gloved hand along the edge where the pant material flapped.

"What you think boss?"

"The place is clean. We're going to need to see if we can get prints, footprints, fingerprints. Nothing is here for the naked eye. His pant leg caught on what looks like an old laundry hook, which means someone pushed this body."

Beckett walked back down to the street level and looked back up in the direction of the window. "Lanie, call me when you get something."

Lanie looked up from the examination and grimaced. "It'll be tomorrow." Beckett nodded and spoke to the traffic cops that showed up to help with the scene.

"Guys, get with Internet security and see if we can trace any photos that may go up on the web. We really don't need this to be turned into some book jacket knockoff."

The guys watched as she headed back toward her car and drove off.

"You think she's afraid the body pics will go viral or the pics of Nikki and Jameson on a case?" Ryan tried to joke, but Esposito punched him in the arm.

Beckett didn't honestly know why she was standing there in the elevator. He really didn't need her help. He was her father; she was old enough to know what her dad saw every day for the last couple of years. It was absurd that she continued to stand there. Hearing the elevator ding, she quickly moved out in to the hallway and looked around.

If she left right then, no one would know she had been there. She heard voices coming form the other side of the door. The voices appeared to get louder, which meant they were getting closer. Looking from end to end in the hallway, it was built like the typical fancy loft hallway with no décor and therefore no hiding space. She swiftly started toward the stairs but stopped when she heard her name.

Turning she bit her lip, "I was coming by to check on Alexis and then felt it was silly." She stopped back in front of the elevator and hit the button.

Castle stopped her by standing in front of the elevator door. "She'd like to see you. In fact, I have this sneaking suspicion that you need to talk to her anyway." She watched as the elevator doors opened and his arm stayed firmly in the way.

"I was pretty sure that anything she could contribute you could just tell me tomorrow. I don't want to bother her with the details." Beckett took Castle's arm and tried to remove it from the door but turned when she felt someone else step out into the hallway.

"There's pricks on his arm." The two both looked as Alexis moved back into the doorway of the loft.

"What do you mean?" Beckett started following Alexis back into the loft to Castle's relief. Beckett didn't know, but Alexis needed to talk about it. She had been asking to call her since the moment they walked back into the loft. Castle didn't understand the bond the two had. It wasn't a mother daughter relationship, but it wasn't best girlfriends either. It was complicated; just as complicated as he and Beckett were.

The two sat down on the couch with Castle sitting to the side. Kate waited silently for Alexis to obviously find her composure. Her eyes were a bit read and her cheeks were puffy as if she had been crying. She glanced in Castle's direction as the somber look on her face confirmed her thoughts. He generally met her glances to throw her off, but this time his eyes never left his daughter.

"Pricks like pin holes. He obviously was dead before hitting the ground. No screams."

Beckett rubbed Alexis on the back as she talked. "Like needles? Drugs maybe?" She glanced at Castle who continued to fixate on his daughter.

"No, it wasn't what I would think a needle would do. These are visible on his arm. He looked stiff."

Beckett hugged her closer as she glanced over at Castle. "You see all the same thing?"

Castle nodded and Beckett could see him chewing on the inside of his lip, a habit he seemed to have when he was nervous.

"Alexis," Beckett turned the teen toward her and held her by the shoulders. "Just keeps this between us. If your friends see pictures of you at the crime scene, just tell them you can't talk about it. Ok?" Alexis nodded and hugged the detective before hugging her dad.

"I'm going to try to get some sleep. Thanks for coming by Kate." The two watched as Alexis ascended the stairs. "Kate, what do you do to get to sleep. You deal with this every day."

Beckett smiled and sighed. The girl was right; she spent her days looking at corpses and her evenings trying to forget them, at least for a few hours. "I read. Like tonight, I was reading…"She paused and looked at Castle wondering if she was going to say his books. "Something light, romantic, fluffy. Something that unlocks completely from work."

Alexis smiled and shook her head. She wondered if Kate had merely given her answer she wanted to hear. Heading on up the stairs, she disappeared into her room and shut the door. "You think she'll be ok?" Beckett asked as Castle pulled out a bottle of wine from the fridge.

"She's tough like her dad." Castle sat one wine glass half full in front of Kate and then leaned over the counter toward her. "Thanks. I know that was hard considering where we're..."

Kate set the wine down and gazed across the bar at him. He wanted to go there tonight. "Castle, it's late and you know we have an early day tomorrow. Lanie's expecting us."

Castle watched as Beckett downed her wine in just more than one gulp. She was nervous talking about it. She never ventured into the territory. It had been weeks since the setup that turned into the kiss that solidified it for him. But she wouldn't talk about any of it. He hadn't heard about Josh or even if there was still a Josh. For all his investigative prowess, he knew nothing.

He watched her get up and head for the door, so he stepped in front of her to open it. "Early. Got it," he tried to play cool.

Kate turned around as she watched the elevator doors open. "Castle…goodnight."

He watched as the doors closed and returned back to the loft. Putting the wine glasses away, he headed upstairs and peaked into Alexis' room. Her light was still on tonight, but she had fallen asleep with her book. Closing the door gently, he left the light on.


	2. Nothing Funny

_A/N - thank you for all the alerts and patience. I started this with an idea, scrapped and had to rethink. So, I hope I do the second round of it justice. Here is the second chapter of this one. I have tried to proofread it, but that seems to never work exactly as planned. Please R&R._

Chapter 2 – Nothing Funny

Castle followed Beckett through the double doors and found Lanie in her trademark scrubs but covered head to toe in protective gear. Beckett glanced at Castle and put her arm out in a quick attempt to stop him. She had seen Lanie dress like this before and the extra gear was never a good sign. "Drastic measures today?"

Lanie glanced over as Beckett handed Castle a gown and gloves. "Just a precaution. Seems our John Doe here had been dead for an hour or so before he came flying out the window."

Castle looked at the man's arm. "Those are the pin pricks Alexis was talking about."

Lanie glanced at Castle in surprise and then at Beckett. Coming around the body, she lifted the man's arm up carefully and pointed. "They aren't your normal puncture marks; they don't appear to be needles. They don't match up to any veins. There are no other signs of trauma on the body, but when we tried to sample his blood, it came out like this." Lanie held up a vial of the vic's blood.

"It looks like red cottage cheese," Beckett sneered as she handed the vial back to her friend. "What would do that?"

"Yummy, what does the rest of the insides look like?" Castle grimaced at the thought.

"We're running the tox on the sample. We'll hopefully have an answer back soon, but all the internal organs look relatively normal. He did show signs of respiratory failure." Lanie put up her hands in the universal 'I don't know' signal and looked back at the body. "Someone wanted you to think the fall killed him by his obvious Peter Pan out the window, but this is definitely not because of that."

"What then are we looking for?" Beckett asked as she moved the arm in question back in place. "Feels stiff, more than our normal vics."

"I honestly have no clue without any tox screen, but I have this sneaking suspicion that it's going to come back clean as well."

Castle typed something in on his phone as Lanie and Beckett went over some other details of his description to hopefully track the man's family down. "Did you know that thrombosis usually ends in stroke? How can that be and not find anything wrong with the victim?" Castle typed something else in the phone and turned his nose up, not being able to come up with any connections.

Castle continued reading from his phone as the two made their way back up to the precinct floor. Looking around, Beckett saw Esposito. "Hey, when the uniforms canvassed the building last night, did they find anything else? Anything out of the ordinary?"

"No, but the report is on your desk. What's the vic's cause of death?"

Beckett waited until Ryan made it across the room and continued spying on Castle in the background still reading to himself and wincing at some of the details. "We're not sure. The blood is coagulated but there are no other abnormalities except for a bunch of broken bones."

Ryan interjected, "Well, we ran our vic's prints through the database and got a hit. Jacob Harper was convicted of assault back in 2006 for a bar room argument over a girlfriend at the time, but nothing since. He was working at the Port of New York loading and unloading heavy crates. Never married with no kids on file. He's close to perfect."

"And the building owner?"

Esposito shook his head, "Nothing solid. The building has been under renovation on the inside for a few months. They have sold a few of the loft areas, but not all of them. This one hadn't been finished out, so the reason for the plain look. But the officers did find these in the construction dumpster outside." He handed a picture to Beckett as Castle leaned over her shoulder to look.

Beckett looked through the series of pictures of evidence already bagged. "Everything's still there from what we could make of it. There was still cash in the wallet. The last number dialed was a couple of days ago. CSU is running down any other details on the phone."

Castle eyed the list of the cards that had been removed from the wallet for filing. "What is SHHS?" He asked as he looked at the card that had initials on it.

"Looked like he was writing himself a reminder," Ryan interjected. "It's on the back of a card for a cleaners. We already contacted the cleaners. The owners have no idea what the letters mean, and the vic hasn't had anything cleaned there in a couple of weeks."

She could still feel him behind her. Turning back over her shoulder, she stared at Castle. He was breathing in her ear. There was no way he was not doing that on purpose, she thought. "What is this?" She asked about the picture in the folder.

"CSU blacklighted and then dusted the floor. There was a marked trail part way to the stairs, but since it wasn't something with color, we didn't catch it last night. They're not sure on the substance yet. They're running tests on what the substance is. We'll get it back hopefully this afternoon."

Castle stood up. "So we need to head down to the docks, maybe check out some co-workers."

Beckett turned and looked at Esposito, "Work up some financials for our vic. He's turning out too squeaky clean for my taste. I also want to get a look into his apartment, so work with the apartment manager."

The four stared at the white board with the picture of the vic and a blank space all around the board. The only things anyone had right now were a couple of puncture marks.

Feeling her phone vibrate, she stopped writing and flipped it open. "Beckett." The guys started pulling up information about the docks and where Jacob lived to start running down more details. Following her to another desk, Castle looked over her shoulder and rolled his eyes at the picture in front of them.

"Ryan, get this rag on the line. I want to have a word with them," Beckett barked as she felt Castle tense up behind her.

"Castle," she paused as he had already started down the hall.

Alexis started out of the school building as quickly as she had arrived. She wasn't the one involved with the murder; it was her father. But the questions kept coming. She picked up her pace as others started looking and pointing at her. After the first hour of questions and getting nothing accomplished at school, she was done. Getting homework assignments for the next day, she walked out, telling the office to call her father if they had a problem.

"Nikki Heat Creator and Daughter Find Own Murder Mystery" the headline read. Alexis knew that Kate had tried to shield her from any of the pictures, but some of the photos were taken even before Beckett arrived. Alexis had explained to everyone that she knew nothing and didn't want to talk about it. Talking about it made her see it again and again.

"Lex?" Alexis turned around and saw her father pull up beside her in the street and pop the lock on the car. She quickly got in the front seat and took a deep sigh. "I guess I don't need to ask how school went today."

She sat silent for a few minutes and then stared out the window. "The kids were just horrible, asking if I touched the body and what it smelled like and if you were going to use it in a book, if your character would have a daughter visiting that witnesses a murder."

Castle swallowed and held his daughter's hand. He knew his mother would be calling from the other coast soon enough. She would see the picture and be on the next plane home from her latest acting endeavor. "So what did you do?"

"I got my assignments and left. I'm not getting anything accomplished there. Besides, the more the kids asked questions, the more I couldn't put it out of my mind. Last night it was so fresh it didn't seem to bother me, almost like a shock, but it's creepy the way the kids talked about it."

Castle closed his eyes at the red light and pursed his lips together. He and Beckett both had tried to hide this from her, keep her out of the limelight in their investigations, but bodies typically didn't fall on top of them. "You want me to take you home?"

Alexis looked over at her dad and then thought about it. "Could I go with you? I know you're going to the precinct and if you have to leave with Beckett, I'll stay there. It just seems if this is all that's going to race through my head all day, I might as well be somewhere I can talk about it."

Castle made a quick right turn and headed back to the precinct to catch up with the others on the trail.

The two walked through the elevator just as Ryan passed by. "You ok kid?" he asked as he put an arm around her. Alexis looked up at him and smiled weakly.

"Yeah, I just didn't want to be interrogated at school, so I brought my assignments home for the next couple of days. Do you mind if I'm here?"

Castle looked up at Beckett, who now leaned against the desk that Alexis sat down at. Alexis looked at the nameplate that was Ryan's. "Sorry."

"No problem; we won't be working too much desk today. Boss?"

Beckett looked at Alexis and then at Castle. "Yeah, make yourself at home. Let us know if you need anything." Alexis thanked her and eyed the others as they continued to work on possible ideas for the case.

TBC

_A/N - Things will start to flesh out soon enough._


	3. Barriers

Chapter 3 – Barriers

She had fallen for it again. The three of them had left the precinct and headed back to his place for dinner and to continue the discussion. They had worked on leads from the precinct, not wanting to leave Alexis alone in the bullpen. The sister would be arriving on a flight early in the morning, in time for Ryan and Esposito to meet her. Plus, checking out the docks would be more useful knowing Martha was on a red eye back to New York to help with Alexis.

Getting off the elevator, Castle spied Alexis asleep on the desk as the two babysitters continued making phone calls. She had missed lunch and it was almost dinner. "Are you doing anything tonight?" he asked.

"Besides work?" Beckett asked irritatingly. But her features quickly softened when she looked in the direction Castle was. Her heart fell as Beckett pictured what she went through her first time on a murder case, seeing the body, having to analyze it, and then forget it. "What did you have in mind?"

"Delivery and a smaller murder board in a swanky loft not completely across town." He leaned over and shook Alexis gently as the two other men watched. She moaned softly and stretched, now surprised by all the eyes on her.

"I fell asleep? I guess I didn't sleep that well last night." She rubbed her eyes and started packing up her books after seeing her father pick up his overcoat he had left.

"We're ordering in tonight."

"I want the Chinese place. The one with the real dim sum," Alexis stated as she curiously watched Beckett grab her coat and purse.

"Guys, call me on the cell if you break anything." The three walked away as Ryan and Esposito just looked at each other.

The three walked into Castle's apartment with bags on Chinese wafting sweet and sour smells through the air. Beckett watched as Alexis immediately headed upstairs to throw her things down and Castle carefully laid out plates and dinner. "Wine or something else?"

Beckett shook out of her stare. "Tea? You know with the food."

"Ahh," she shook her head as Castle continued bounding around the kitchen grabbing a teapot and a large teabag with what she only guessed was fresh leaves.

"Wow, I was looking for Lipton, but you apparently know the place in Chinatown," she commented as Alexis reappeared, dressed much more comfortably.

"Yeah, a friend of mine at school her dad runs a big tea and herbal market there. Dad gets a discount." Beckett shook her head as the teapot went off and watched Castle carefully pour hot water over the diffusers in each cup.

"Now," he pointed out, "you can take it out when it hits the strength you want." He sat the water back on the stove and sat on the other chair. The three continued to eat in relative peace, going back over pieces of the case that wouldn't alarm or put off Alexis. After dinner, she excused herself.

"I'm going to head up to bed. Thanks Kate for letting me hang today; it was easier than school and probably all the kids will have something else to talk about come Monday." She hugged Kate and then Castle goodnight.

"You have a date tonight?" Castle threw out as he cleaned up the kitchen.

"No, he's actually on his way to Japan," he heard her say quietly as she continued to nurse her tea.

Castle was confused. "I thought he wasn't going out of the country. I thought you two had worked it out." He didn't want to lead her to believe what he was feeling. The last he knew their kiss had been nothing, and Josh was still very much in the picture. He watched as she pushed her tea away and slid off the chair.

"Well, earthquakes change people's minds."

"I'm sorry, but I mean he'll be back. He's not gone for good." Castle followed her to the door. She seemed to be running out the door. "Beckett." He reached for her and turned her around.

Beckett was breathing harder than she knew she could handle. Squeezing at her temples, she sighed. "Did either one of your wives ever cheat on you, or was it just relationship issues?" she asked before she think about the question.

Castle backed up and tried unsuccessfully to pull Beckett back into the loft. "Meredith. One of the many reasons I have little to do with her. Beckett, what did Josh do?" He pulled her out of the doorway as he saw her wipe her face.

"I'm sorry, this is really Lanie's department, but she's been…"

Castle pulled her hands down from her face really looked at her. "Kate, I live with a teenage daughter. Now, what happened?" Pulling her over to the couch he kept her hands in his and sat patiently as she thought.

"He…," she closed her eyes and bit down hard on her lip. "I called this afternoon to check in with him as soon as I knew he would be getting up and a woman answered." She sat back into the pillows on the couch and stared at Castle. "I was pretty sure I made a mistake and dialed again with the same result. Asked for him."

With his head slightly lowered, he was overly concerned. She didn't deserve this. Josh had no knowledge of her background, but no woman really deserved the treatment, especially her. Castle knew that inside her firm demeanor was still that little girl wanting to talk to her mom, more so at time like this.

"What did he say?"

He watched as Kate fiddled with her fingers and closed her eyes. "He said it was really tough over there and his emotions had just led him off the path. That he didn't know where we stood and said he was staying for another month. And I said well, that's that." She glanced at Castle who returned with nothing. "I couldn't even say the words."

"Come here," Castle whispered as he put his arm up for her to curl under. She thought it to be a bad idea, but gave up feeling the warmth next to him. Falling into his body, he handed her the tissue box from the side table and let her cry.

"You go through this with Alexis?" She sniffled out after a few minutes.

"With Ashley, it's been awhile, but it happens." He felt her try to sit up and then bury further into him.

"Thank you, although I have this feeling you're thrilled." She heard him scoff in a silent retort, but knew he had to be. She closed her eyes and ignored the fact she was buried in Castle's arm. She could smell him, even in the evening, he smelled luscious. His breathing slowed as Castle looked up at the clock.

He wanted to get angry; he wanted to buy a ticket to Japan just to beat the sense back into the man. He wanted to be with her, but at least wanted whomever she picked to be good to her. His Beckett wasn't happy, and that hurt him.

After sitting quiet for awhile, Castle wanted to see if she had truly just fallen asleep. He held still for a moment longer and then moved his arm slightly. She stirred and then cuddled against the pillow he replaced his body with. Covering her up, he kissed her forehead, put an extra key next to purse, turned off the lights and went to bed.

TBC

_A/N - Thank you again for the alerts and the reviews. It truly helps keep the momentum.  
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	4. Any Ideas Accepted

**Chapter 4 – Any Ideas Accepted**

Beckett looked up from the desk as soon as the coffee hit its normal location. Looking back down, her face was drawn and she immediately went back to writing. "I don't want to talk about it." She reached over in a drawer and looked around the bullpen. She slid the key over to him as he sat in his normal seat.

"It's done," Castle answered and saw Beckett take a sigh of relief. "So where are we at today?"

She pushed her seat back from the desk and grabbed her keys and coffee. "If you're game, we can head over to the docks and talk to a few people. Ryan's already on his way to the airport to pick up the sister. She's supposed to be coming into ID the body and hopefully shed some light on things. Then we have a time to meet the super at the apartment. He said Mr. Harper rarely had people come around, so he has no idea who could have done this."

Castle shook his head as he followed Beckett out of the elevator and to her car.

The docks smelled the same every time they had to come down. It didn't matter whether he came for fresh fish or with Beckett, they always had the same smell of dead fish and motor oil. As he followed Beckett to the warehouse that Jacob supposedly worked, Castle glanced at the boxes. Nothing seemed strange; crates from all over the world, some big and small.

"Detective Kate Beckett," she flashed her badge. "I'm looking for information Jacob Harper, maybe what he was doing on his last day of work. My colleague talked to someone on the phone."

"Yeah, I'm Marcus. I do lead on the warehouse. They were unloading that stack of crates over there." Castle noticed the dark corner a few extra creates had been tossed.

"Jersey?" Castle had to know about the accent.

"Yeah, I tie up my boat over there and go home. Couple blocks from my place." He looked back at the detective that gave Castle a glare. "The boxes are emptied now, when I got the call I dumped them there. We'll break them down after you're done."

Castle started poking around the boxes as Beckett took the list of crates from the man. "Also, you said we? If there's someone else that was here working on this shipment, I need to talk to him as well."

"Yeah, Steve. I'll send him your way in a few." Beckett nodded as the little portly man disappeared into a break room she guessed. "You find anything?"

Castle came out from one of the crates that stood nearly as tall as he did. "No, a couple of pop corn kernels and some packing peanuts. I have a feeling that the CSU unit would be more use here than us."

"Yeah, well, then just start writing in that notebook you carry the names on all the crates that they have a count." She continued her canvass of the crates and looked above her head at the one that was smaller than the others. "Castle."

Looking around the corner, he watched amused as Beckett stood as high as she could on her tip toes and waved her fingers across the bottom of a crate. Walking over behind her, he grabbed the end and pushed it within her grasp. Getting a deathly glare, he smirked and continued his search. "What's it say?"

Kate turned the box over and looked at the writing. "SHHS. Castle?" She waited and motioned him back over. "This matches the letters on the cleaners card?"

Castle glared at it and then smelled the box. "Yeah, and whatever was in there wasn't happy."

Kate tossed her head around and gave him a questioning glance. "What?"

"Take a whiff. You think Lanie could do something with it?" Beckett smelled it too and turned her nose up.

"Maybe or CSU, but when we get to the car, put it in the trunk." She walked out as Steve appeared. "Hi, I'm Detective Kate Beckett. Your boss was telling me that you were working with Jacob on this shipment the day he probably died. Do you have any recollection of anything that was out of the ordinary?"

The younger kid looked about sixteen as far as Castle could picture, maybe he was eighteen, but apparently new at his job. "Not that I know of. We oversaw the unloading and logged the pallets as they came off the ship." The kid looked at the log and then handed it to Beckett.

Reading over the log, she tried to find the box that listed the same four letters as the crate in her hand. "I don't see this particular crate on the list. You remember if it might have come in from another shipment or another crate?"

Steve looked at the box she was talking about and turned up his nose at the smell as well. Walking back into a small room that both Castle and Beckett followed him to, they watched as he went through the rest of the shipments from the day before. "There's no listing for that box. Maybe it came in another one. Plus, I wouldn't have forgotten that smell."

Beckett glanced at Castle and nodded in agreement. "Thank you, we'll be in touch." Beckett shook hands with the younger man and started out toward the exit. Castle slowed to match up with Beckett's pace. "You think he's clean?"

"Yeah, the kid's got just enough knowledge to find a sheet of paper." Beckett glanced over in rolled her eyes in agreement. Popping the trunk, she went and started the car as Castle dumped the questionable crate in the trunk.

As they worked their way back to the precinct, Beckett talked herself through what they knew at the point, which was little. Castle was thinking about the night before. "What?" she asked as he continued to stare at her uncharacteristically.

"Nothing."

"Castle, come on," she commented. She knew what was on his mind as he waved her off once again and started looking out the opposite window. He never just sat silent; he didn't even pull out his phone to play on.

The two of them sat in the car as she drove in silence until Castle couldn't hold it. "You know you didn't have to sneak out this morning. Martha and Alexis would have fully understood."

He saw Beckett's hands grip the steering wheel tighter and grit her teeth together. "I didn't want to be in the way and the key you left gave me the impression you wanted me gone anyway."

Castle closed his eyes and rubbed his temple. They pulled into the garage and Beckett parked the car before sitting with her hands still on the wheel. Looking straight forward, she couldn't move. "Kate, I wanted to give you the option, it wasn't required you leave."

"Castle, you weren't even supposed to be there for me. God, this wasn't even your conversation."

Castle turned and glared at her, "Why the hell not? You're my partner. I'm your friend. What? You think Lanie is the only person you can talk to? Remember how many people you've actually let into your life, about your mom and dad. You can trust me with those secrets but you can't trust me with your love life. It's not like I'm going to go off and text Esposito about it." He turned away and beat his hand against the car door. "Damn," he whispered to himself.

"Get out of the car Castle."

Castle met her glare and grabbed the door handle. "Well, that's a first," he mouthed as he slammed the door. Walking off in the opposite direction of the elevator, Beckett watched him as she opened the trunk.

"Castle!" She waited thinking he always turned around. "Where are you going?" she hollered across the garage.

Without turning back, he just waved as if he was saying I don't care. Getting in the car and slamming the door, he watched Beckett haul the box out of the trunk and slam the door. He kept an eye on her in the rearview as she disappeared behind the elevator doors.

Beckett listened to the elevator ding on every floor as she couldn't decide to punch something or cry. She didn't know why she couldn't have just said what she wanted, maybe because she honestly couldn't decide what she wanted to say. Her day was beginning to genuinely suck.

TBC

_Thank you for the continuing reads. Please read and review._


	5. Curiouser and Curiouser

_A/N - Yep, I haven't updated this one in forever either. But here I am giving it a go again. Thanks for reading!_

Chapter 5 – Curiouser and Curiouser

"So Esposito, where are we with the sister?" Beckett quickly composed herself as she walked back in to the bullpen.

He walked up and met her at her desk and laid the file on the desk. "Nothing much. Lanie had to console the woman when she identified the body. She had no idea what the marks on his arm were but said he was genuinely a happy guy that as far as she knew, never got involved with anything underhanded."

Esposito handed the picture of the sister to Beckett as she also looked through the file. "And his financials?"

"That's there too. Nothing really out of place; only one large transaction in the last few weeks." Esposito leaned over and pointed out the highlighted section of the records. "That payment went out of his account, a savings account a couple of weeks ago."

"Did you ever run down what the SHHS is?" She continued to look at the payment by check to the same name on the box and in the man's wallet.

"No, but we've got a couple of leads that we are checking into." Esposito watched as Beckett went through the rest of the file. "Where's Castle?"

Beckett looked up quickly and then back down at the report. "I think he's run an errand with the family. It's Saturday and Alexis had been real bothered by how she was treated at school."

Esposito nodded and walked away as Beckett didn't look up from her desk. Something was different, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Texting Lanie, Esposito hoped that maybe he could get his boss back on the case and out of her own head.

* * *

><p>Castle slammed the front door as he threw his jacket on the couch. He poured himself a drink and leaned against the kitchen counter as Martha walked. "What happened?"<p>

"Why does something have to happen? I just decided to take the rest of the afternoon away. I don't work there." He answered without looking at her. "Where's Alexis?"

"She went out with Ashley to talk." Squeezing her son on the arm, he shook her head. "Now what about you Richard? You would never walk out on a case unless…what happened last night?"

He glanced up as he put the empty glass in the sink. He knew that he probably shouldn't float two bourbons back to back before the afternoon. "What do you mean?"

"I mean Alexis told me that when she went to bed last night that you and Beckett were still down here working apparently and that when she woke up she was gone."

Castle eyed his mother. "We worked for a bit and then she went home. That was it mother."

"Doesn't sound like it," she mumbled as kissed him on the cheek. Starting back up to her room, she turned back. "For once Richard the two of you need to talk."

Castle shook his head slowly. "Thank you mother, but I think that is what got me here." His mother gave her well-known sign for whatever as she started up the stairs.

Castle sat down in front of his computer in the office starting to feel somewhat more relaxed and focused. Opening up the latest notepad on the computer, he recorded a few new plot lines that he wanted to work into his latest novel. She would recognize the fight if he included that, but the characters did have some issues that needed to be worked out. He scoffed at the fact that he was writing fiction, but more and more it seemed he was paralleling his real life. Maybe it was time to truly back off and look at another perspective.

Shutting the notepad, he opened up a browser and typed in SHHS. After pages and pages of seeing different high schools and their various websites, he closed the computer again. It had to be something else. He could tell that his drink was starting to kick in as he fell asleep in the chair.

* * *

><p>"So what do you have?" Beckett asked as she appeared in the morgue.<p>

Lanie looked at her and then leaned her head to the side. "No shadow today? What did you do?" Beckett returned the question with a glare. "Never mind then, but it will kill you, you know that? Anyway, I sent your box to CSU but did a little checking on it myself. Poop."

Beckett curled up her lip in confusion. "What?"

"Poop, excrement. That was the smell. I found traces where it looked like someone had tried to wash out the box, but there is always trace elements left, hence the scent. Anyway, I scraped a little, did some tests. You may not have a who to catch, but a what."

Beckett looked in the microscope and shook her head. "Seriously?"

"Yep, from what I could see, there were some miniscule hair fibers and what looked like broken down bones. You've got an animal. Oh, and I found this stuck underneath one of the cross beams in the box." Lanie handed the sample to Beckett and crossed her arms as Beckett stared at her.

"See? You've got a what." Lanie took the sample back and put it with the rest of the forensics information. "So, I'm working more on that angle now. As for you, what's up with you?"

Beckett stood and looked again at the body and sample that Lanie had just shown her. She watched as Lanie took a picture of the sample to print out for the murder board and then turned to face her. "It's nothing. Castle and I had a disagreement."

"And?"

"He went home."

"And?"

Beckett sighed and slumped against the counter. "And Josh and I broke up. He's cheating on me in Japan."

Lanie turned and hugged her best friend, "Honey, I'm so sorry. You want to get together tonight and talk about it. Booze and Bashing."

Beckett waved her off, "No, actually I talked to Castle about it and I think that was a bad idea. He was playing the best friend card, I gave in, we misconstrued a few things and got in a fight."

Lanie rolled her eyes at Beckett. "You know girl I would say I was proud of you for actually opening up to Castle about something other than your mom, but you turned around and then practically shut the door in his face didn't you?"

Beckett stood real quiet and glared at Lanie. She didn't want to give into the ME, knowing that she was probably right about everything, but wasn't in the mood. "Lanie, he's like a puppy. He'll come back and we'll tackle it then. Until that time, I still have a case to solve."

Lanie watched as Beckett was almost out the door, "Enjoy arresting it; I want to see pictures!"


	6. Bit by Bit

_A/N - Thank you for all the new story alerts and those trying out this story. Please R&R if you can. Enjoy!_

**Chapter 6 – Bit by Bit**

Castle woke with a start as he heard clanging in the kitchen. Pulling the computer off his lap, he rubbed his eyes to refocus and walked around the corner to see his daughter putting dishes away and getting food out of the refrigerator. "If I didn't know any better, I would think you were making dinner for your dad."

Alexis looked up and smiled before nodding. "Not just you, but you are welcome to stay. Ashley and I went out and decided that we wanted something here for dinner. I'm making pasta. You want some?"

Castle smiled and shook Ashley's hand. "You know there's something special about a daughter who offers to eat dinner with her boyfriend and her father." Castle didn't quite answer the question, but watched as Ashley took the salad and started on it. Waiting for a few more moments, he observed his daughter. He couldn't believe he was going to lose her also in the next year.

Smiling at Alexis and then seeing his mother on the way out, he slapped his hands on the counter. "You know, I think I will let you two have this one. I have some other things to work on tonight." Castle kissed his daughter and gave a teasing evil eye to Ashley as he disappeared into his room.

He looked at his phone and saw no messages, calls or texts. Shoving his phone in his pocket, he fluffed his hair and then hurried back out of the office. Waving once more, he closed the door behind him and saw his mother still waiting on the elevator.

"So you don't have dinner or a signing tonight?"

Castle glanced over at his mother and halfway smiled. "You know that. I guess you have a hot night out tonight," he commented as he looked over his mother's attire.

"Yes, I have that benefit I had asked you to go to. You could go with me still you know. Get you know who out of your head." Castle sarcastically smiled at his mother. Martha knew what that grin looked like. "Ok, but if she calls the police when you show up at her door, don't call us until tomorrow."

Castle laughed as they rode down in the elevator together and parted ways. Castle glanced back as his mother jumped in a taxi and waved once more. He eyed the little sandwich place across the street and stopped before catching his own cab.

The cab stopped in front of Beckett's apartment. Getting out, he stood on the sidewalk and stared up at the building for longer than normal, wondering if she was even there or if she would even talk to him. Sighing, he pushed the front door open and started up in the elevator, listening to the ding at every floor. The doors opened and he looked toward her door.

He stopped and could hear music coming from the apartment. Not that it bothered him, but he never knew Beckett to be a big music fan; she had always mentioned reading in the quiet. Knocking on the door, he waited and heard nothing like Beckett opening the door. He pulled his notebook out of his jacket and wrote a note, slipping it under her door and waited a minute longer.

Beckett walked through the living room and eyed the floor as she dried her hair. Picking up the random piece of paper, she opened it. She immediately knew the scrawl.

_Sounds like your still mad at me. Just came by to smooth things over._

Kate unlocked the door quickly and looked at the elevator doors as they opened. "Castle," she blurted just as he started on the elevator.

He turned around, noticing that no one was in the hallway but the music had suddenly gotten quieter. He waited outside her open door until she returned in a sweats. "Sorry, I was in shower. Come in."

She watched as he passed her and started to remove his coat. "Make yourself comfortable," she responded to his obvious motion that showed he was sticking around.

"You invited me in." Castle stopped and paused, questioning her. Looking at her across the room, he shook his head. "I didn't come here to argue with you. I wanted to apologize for earlier today and say that it was none of my business."

Beckett put her hands on her hips and looked curiously at Castle as he faced her with his hands in his pockets. "You've never stayed out of my business; why are you apologizing now?"

Castle shrugged his shoulders and glared at her. "It seemed the only the thing I could say. I wasn't quite sure what I did wrong and why you were mad at me. You confided in me and it was my mistake to push, so I'm apologizing."

Beckett nodded unconvincingly. She honestly was just as confused to why he was apologizing as to the reason they got in the fight in the first place. She knew the problem had nothing to do with him; she was mad at Josh and he wasn't there for her to get mad or lash out at, so Castle got it. She should be the one doing the apologizing.

"You want something to drink?" She asked as she retrieved a water from the refrigerator. She saw the small nod and retrieved another bottle and went over to the couch. "I'm sorry. I took my feelings about Josh out on you. It wasn't fair."

She waited silently while Castle opened the water she handed him and sat back in the couch cushions. "No, it wasn't." Castle bit the inside of his cheek after the way the words left his mouth so bitter. Seeing Beckett not respond to the retort he dropped it.

"How's Alexis?" Beckett wanted to change the subject.

"She went out with Ashley for a bit today. I think it'll blow over by Monday. Teenagers generally don't stay focused on the same thing for that long." Castle watched as Beckett pulled her feet up under her and got comfortable next to him on the couch. "So did you and Lanie find out anything about the crate?"

Beckett sighed inwardly at the quick change to an even a more comforting topic. "The smell was animal excrement. She also found something that makes me think we have to find this suspect before it scares the crap out of someone." Beckett jumped off the couch and grabbed the small baggie that Lanie gave Beckett. "Lanie has another piece and was hoping to ID it further."

Castle took the baggie and let out a laugh. "Really? Is this what I think it is? Because if it is, I for one hope that I don't find it."

"I tried looking up that SHHS today, but had no luck. How did the boys and you make out?" Castle put the water down and leaned back on her couch. Beckett wriggled up her nose and shook her head no in response. "But, this gives me another clue."

Beckett inches closer on the couch to Castle as he pulled out his phone and typed in the initials and the evidence that appeared. The two turned and smiled at each other at the first item that popped on Google. It couldn't be that easy; nothing was that easy. "So Beckett, so how about a date tomorrow?" Castle joked while Beckett looked at the screen that he pulled up.

Beckett glared at him. "Castle? Seriously?"

He tried not to laugh. "I meant to the zoo. You and me and a few animals. He bumped her shoulder with his and giggled. "I'll even buy you a ice cream…no a cotton candy." His eyes had that twinkle back that Beckett craved to see daily as he turned and corrected himself.

She rolled her eyes realizing what he was talking about. "Haha. Very funny, but yes we need to." Castle tucked his phone back into his pocket before Beckett scooted back over.

"So, do you think it's still a homicide?" he asked.

Beckett leaned against the pillows on the couch; Castle could tell she looked sleepy. "I don't know. It might be what killed him but that doesn't explain how he got in the building." Castle looked over toward the bookshelf and then back at Beckett. "What?" Beckett shifted nervously as a silence fell between them.

"You didn't deserve that." Castle quietly added. Beckett squinted at the strange remark. "It's like Josh completely forgot what an amazing person you are." Castle fell silent again but never left her eyes as Beckett's heart started to race. "Someday you'll realize that you deserve so much more than you think you do."

Beckett felt the bile in her stomach churn in response to Castle's lowered voice. She tried desperately to break eye contact without showing her fright of where the conversation was going. She glanced down and gasped quietly when Castle covered her hand with his.

"Did you love him?" She finally looked away.

"I liked him a lot, but there wasn't enough," she barely whispered. "I would have probably driven him away too." She never moved her hand from his grip. Castle gazed at her as she continued staring at the floor and beyond. "I drive them all away."

She gulped when she felt his other hand tuck her hair behind her ear and turn her face to his. "I'm still here," he stated in a matter of fact tone that she rarely heard from him.

Beckett tried not to crack a smile. He had stuck around through all the different boyfriends. Even she knew that he had stopped appearing in the entertainment section headlines in the last year and down deep she knew why. "It's not the same Castle. We..." Beckett felt her phone vibrate and broke contact with Castle. "Beckett."

Castle sighed and removed the water bottles from the table and started to pick up his coat before Beckett grabbed his arm. Signing for him to wait, she jumped off the couch and headed into the bedroom while still saying a series of uh huh's and got it's over the phone.

She reappeared from the bedroom a few minutes later dressed and grabbing her keys. "So, we have another victim, but the girl is alive."

"Someone else was attacked?" Castle's brow furrowed in response to Kate's sudden change in disposition. Work now taking precedent, he let the conversation from a few minutes ago disappear yet again.

"Sort of. They found the girl going into renal failure in one of the finished apartments. She was slumped over the tub when her mother found her in the bathroom. Lanie is on the way to the hospital to check the wound marks, but the doctor thinks it sounds similar."

Castle followed Beckett into the elevator and down to her car as she called another emergency number. "Yeah, I need the animal control dispatch; this is detective Beckett." Waiting a few more minutes as she started the car, she heard another man pick up. "Yes, I think we have an escaped snake in the Townhouse Condos on 54th and 1st. Proceed with extreme caution."

As she started the car up, she saw Castle visibly quiver. "Mystery solved," he said sarcastically.


	7. Catching an Escaped Killer

_A/N - I know I have neglected this story for the month and I will try not to forget it until next year, but my other one had to be finished first to get it out of my head. Now this and one more short fluffy write is all I have to finish before work calls in a week. BTW, this chapter is somewhat bored out of reality. My husband does snake handling and breeding as a hobby. Reviews would be appreciated. _

Chapter 7 – Catching an Escaped "Killer"

Beckett and Castle quickly moved through the main part of the hospital and saw Lanie as they rounded the corner into the ICU. "You have anything?"

Lanie smiled seeing the two together at the odd hour of the night. She kept her thoughts to herself. "So, the girl that came in does have the same little puncture marks on her ankle this time. The doctors think the strange location for the bite explains why she didn't die quicker. The first victim was hit in a more direct artery."

Beckett and Castle followed Lanie back into the ICU where the girl was laying in the bed hooked up to different machines. "What's her prognosis?"

"They are giving her a general antivenom not knowing exactly what species they are dealing with, but they are also starting treatment for her kidneys, taking watch of her other organs. I told them about our vic's autopsy, so they are watching her carefully. The parents are in the waiting room." Lanie pointed toward the double doors with no glass.

"Thanks," Beckett motioned to Castle to follow. He glanced back at the girl and shook his head. The girl was about Alexis' age. He stayed behind Beckett as she approached the parents.

"Mr. and Mrs. Askew. I'm detective Beckett and this is Richard Castle. Can we take a few moments to sit?" The parents couldn't form words and Castle noticed that they didn't let go of each other as they motioned for them to sit down.

"I know this is a horrible time and I would be normally waiting, but the animal we think bit your daughter may have killed someone else prior. Is there anything you can tell us?" Beckett sat quietly as the parents looked at each other and then the mother started to break down in tears.

The father looked up briefly as his wife cried into his shoulder. "My daughter loves your books Mr. Castle." The father choked up again.

"Sir, we want to catch whatever is doing this. I have a daughter about her age and I understand what you are going through right now, but we are hoping we can stop it before we have more victims in here," Castle added with full sincerity.

"I didn't see it. I just heard her scream in pain and then she pointed under the cabinet in the apartment. It's got a few places that still need patching." The mother got silent again and shook her head. "We should have waited to move in. She said it was like a dark brown or black before she started seizing."

Castle looked over at Beckett and motioned with a nod to leave them. They both sat again with their heads down and holding hands. The two silently got up and made their way back to the vehicle. As Castle jumped in the passenger side, he looked over at Beckett. "Back to the apartment?"

"Only if you have time. I can drop you…" She saw Castle shake his head as he started searching for pictures of snakes that could fit the description of their perpetrator. Beckett smiled to herself, hoping that they could finish their talk once they closed their case. The thought was lost when she realized finding the snake may not be the end. Someone still had to push their vic out the window.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Castle and Beckett arrived at the apartments just as Ryan and Esposito got out of the back of the animal control vehicle. Castle stopped midstride noticing the waders the two had put on. "I take it you're not dumpster diving?"

Beckett added a questioning look to Castle's joke. "We started up to the apartment and animal control here said that with the possibility of what's in the building, this would be a suggested extra precaution. He just doesn't have enough for all of us." Ryan glanced in Castle's direction.

"Detective Beckett I presume. Officer Winchell." The man stopped and looked at the woman, laying a careful stare on her footwear. "I can't let you go in there in those shoes and it could compromise the material in the feet of the protection." Glancing in Castle's direction, Winchell pulled the last pair of waders out of the truck and threw them at him. "He can go."

Beckett and Castle exchanged glances and then she looked over at Esposito, "I'll watch him boss." Beckett rolled her eyes, not able to imagine how her shoes were keeping her from her investigation. She watched as Castle removed his jacket and handed it to her along with his wallet and keys. She let him lean against her slightly to balance as he dressed in the full body wader.

"Doesn't make for running very well, does it?"

Beckett put his things in the car and locked it. Following them up to the front of the building, she couldn't help but chuckle. The last time she had seen anyone in those was when her and her father went flyfishing up north. "Now all you need is a couple of poles."

"I have that," Winchell responded without even a chuckle. He handed each man a pole that extended to ten feet. The end had a hook on it. The boys all looked back at Beckett as she shrugged. "If you see it, just try to tail it while calling it in. Just make sure it doesn't get close enough to bite. The waders are a precaution, but not fool proof."

Castle's excitement dwindled into apprehension as he listened to the officer and then glanced back at Beckett. She shrugged and halfway smiled jokingly. The one time the man actually got to work a case without her. She waved as the men disappeared into the building.

As the men worked their way to the apartment where the snake attacked last, Winchell stopped. "Smell that?" The three took a deep breath and cringed. "If we find that, hopefully we find our culprit. Oh, and use the hook to turn over things on the floor, don't reach with your hands for anything."

The three followed the officer into the empty apartment as the smell became more pungent. The three separated when the smell seemed to emanate from all corners of the place. Ryan flipped a few items on the floor over and waved the pole under the bed for any other possibilities.

"Guys!" Esposito and Ryan both followed the high pitched screams as Castle ran back out into the living room and slammed the door. Shaking his free hand, Castle stammered, "found it."

Ryan looked down at the phone and showed it to Castle. Beckett was already making fun of him, apparently hearing his shrieks from the lobby. "Ok, so Ryan, if you would just have the tall garbage pail there for me." The officer was completely ignoring the rattled Castle and grabbed him by the arm. "And you stand there."

The three looked at each other as the officer opened the door to the room where several lamps were lit. The smell grew in intensity and all three men cringed in disgust. Winchell squeezed in the door but left the light off. Ryan and Esposito moved closer to the door with the garbage can. "You may want to call your drug enforcement friends." Esposito and Castle traded places as Esposito placed a call down to Beckett and explained quickly what was going on. He hung up and joined the other two as they stared at the noise coming from the room before the door flew open.

"Holy Sh…." Castle jumped back and waved his hook in front of his legs as Winchell followed the snake out the door. Ryan caught the head of the snake on the hook in between him and Castle's feet as Winchell hooked the other end. Esposito moved the garbage can in between the two as the snake dropped off the hooks. The three sighed as the snake slid into the tall can, not able to climb the side of the can.

Castle held his hand in front of the officer and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Clicking a couple of shots off, he jumped back as the snake eased up the side of the garbage can before falling back to the bottom. He thanked Winchell and hollered down to Beckett and waited as she made her way up the stairs. "I guess you have it?"

"Yep."

"Yeah, Castle was still screaming like a little girl." Beckett walked over and looked in the can before Winchell covered the can up and taped the lid on. Castle stepped out of the waders and handed them to Ryan.

Beckett smiled at Castle and shook her head as he handed the officer the hook and followed her into the bedroom. She covered her face from the smell and turned on the light. "Wow."

The three men stopped behind her and covered their faces after seeing the regurgitated rat lying on the floor. The body had been stretched and flattened but was still wet with what only could be the digestive juices from the snake. Beckett stepped carefully over the mess in the floor and made her way to the well-lit shelves on the wall. She picked her phone out of her pocket and dialed. "It's Beckett, apartment 3B in the building. I have a pretty good crop of home grown weed in the first bedroom and what I gather was a testing set of rats."

Castle waited for her as the boys helped Winchell down the stairs carefully with the can. "We'll wait for the other crew to show and have them canvass the area. How are you?"

Castle glanced over at her after looking around the room and nervously shaking his head, "So what's going to happen from here? This isn't the girl's apartment?"

Beckett nodded as she scoped out the rest of the room. She made notes on her pad of what she observed in the bedroom after turning on the overhead light. "No, but apparently our little critter had been looking for somewhere with warmth and then food. He bites someone right outside a bathtub upstairs and then heads down here to this room. The question is if these people want to stay here knowing that the vents and possible other crevices aren't fully filled."

Beckett turned and saw Castle nod in agreement as the boys returned. "Winchell's going to take the snake back to animal control and put it down before he picks at it. Not sure how much you can actually get out of a snake."

Esposito added, "We've got it here boss. Vice will be here in a bit with a full CSU team. They're going to also check out the girl's apartment. By the way, Lanie called me and let me know that the girl is coming around but still has a way to go."

Beckett nodded and waved as she left the apartment. Castle followed close behind as Beckett headed up the stairs to the unfinished apartment at the top of the building. Stepping under the other police tape that was across the frame of the door, she stopped and stared at the window. "I still don't get how the box we found that had the shed in it made it back to the dock when obviously the whole incident happened here." Castle stood back as she talked to herself and walked through the motions from a few nights ago.

"Maybe the crate never made it here." Castle added standing over to the side.

Beckett turned and pointed at him, knowing he probably wasn't very off target. "We need to get more information back on that crate. CSU's supposed to be wrapping up the work on it for Monday." Beckett turned back around and continued to stare out the broken window that the man fell through.

"Maybe we should head back for the night. They've got teams working here." Castle paused his thoughts and watched Beckett retrace steps to the window and then huff. "Come on, it's late and there's nothing else you can do here."

"Yeah. I just keep wondering if we are missing something." She pinched her nose and started down the stairs after shutting the lights off. Castle followed her back to the awaiting car and got in the vehicle. She stopped before turning on the car and turned to him. "So tomorrow?"

Castle glanced at her, "Are you saying you are still interested in my idea?"

She nodded in a silent maybe with a glint of a smile creeping across her face. "Bronx, they have decent reptile area. About 9?"

"I'll bring breakfast," Castle added in agreement as Beckett started the car. As the two went over the night's events again and laughed, the issues from the nights before didn't completely disappear but quickly were put on the back burner. Maybe the weekend wouldn't end so bad after all.


	8. A Day in the Park

_A/N - Overwhelmed with the amount of story alerts and favorites on this story. Amazing what a joke from my husband can turn into. So, onto the zoo._

* * *

><p>Chapter 8 – A Day in the Park<p>

Beckett looked around at the entrance dodging families and school groups as she tried to find Castle. Finally off in the corner of the entrance, she waved and maneuvered her way through the crowd to him. "Hey, this is nuts." She looked over a few feet and saw Alexis and some boy that she assumed was Ashley.

"Yeah, it's a weekend, so it brings everyone out of the woodwork. So, you ready?" He watched as she reached for her badge and held her hand. "No, I got this one with the kids and all."

Beckett just looked over at him and beamed as he handed her a cup of coffee and a bearclaw while digging the tickets out of his pocket for the woman at the front gate. He watched as Alexis and Ashley cut ahead of them with their tickets. "Hey, call me in about an hour."

"Will do dad," Alexis hollered back as the two disappeared into the crowd. He caught up with Beckett and watched as her eyes darted around the scenery as if she was looking for something specific.

"Are you really just going to make a beeline to the reptile department and then just leave?"

"Yes, I have a case."

He stopped in front of her and put his hand out just before she plowed into him with her coffee in hand. Glaring at him, she took another sip of coffee and waited. His features softened and he looked as if he was going to pout. "Come on, two hours, and that includes the reptile house. We'll just hit the highlights and I'll get you some cotton candy and hope that you try to have a good time."

Beckett groaned outwardly and rolled her eyes but inwardly felt a little lighter. She wouldn't tell Castle but she hadn't been to the zoo since before her mother was killed. They had season passes when she was a kid and used to hang out in front of the Lion exhibit. She always thought the slow motion that they had when calm was ironic knowing the power in which they could kill. Even then she seemed to have been looking at creatures that walked the sociopath's walk.

She had been daydreaming and following along next to Castle so long through the crowds that she completely missed when he had taken her hand in his. Gasping slightly, she glanced up to see if he noticed. He was just taking it all in. He looked like one of the five year olds that they passed, gawking at everything around him. Then he stopped and lifted her hand up to the rail. "They're something aren't they? Amazing how they are so human like?" He glanced over at her as she stopped and put both hands on the railing, but never let go of his hand.

"I was always a fan of the lions. My mom and I would come and watch them for hours, especially on days they fed. Their temperaments would change; they would become much more agitated when they knew meat was coming." She glanced over at Castle and saw the warm grin that was on his face and turned back to the gorillas.

Castle pointed at two moving together over in the corner and then saw a head. "Hey, they got a little one."

Beckett squinted at the glass and saw the small head pop over the leg of one of the parents and then grab the other parent's arm, pulling down on it until the gorilla started to swing it. The little one just dangled on the swinging arm several more rounds and let go just in time to be tossed down the grassy hill. The mother quickly moved to catch it at the bottom and walk it back up to the top of the hill. "Not much different than little kids huh Castle?"

"Alexis wasn't much of the gymnastics type," he commented as Beckett pulled him along the rail and toward the door.

Castle smirked realizing that Beckett couldn't just sit still and kept the case in the back of her mind the whole time. He pulled her toward the Africa plains exhibit after hearing her little hint into the Beckett onion. He was pleasantly surprised when she stopped on her own accord at the giraffes. "You wonder what they think of us way down here on the ground."

Castle leaned on the railing next to her, just slightly brushing his hand against her fingers and grinning sweetly in her direction. He refocused on the giraffe eating the tree in the middle of the plains while seeing more hoofstock from the African area move into the background. Castle then leaned in and looked at Beckett again before reaching for his phone.

"Turn around," he said as he backed away from the railing. Beckett saw his hand and then glared at him.

"Come on Castle, no."

"I'll take one for you two," Castle heard as he turned around and saw an older man that had stopped to help them out. Castle's face lit up and pointed out how to use the phone before moving in next to Beckett. He could see the scowl on her face shrink as he put his arm around her and slightly pinched the back of her arm. When the man said cheese, they both smiled, Castle catching Beckett's arm around him as well and her head leaning into his chest just slightly.

"Thank you," he thanked the man and showed Beckett the picture with the giraffes in the background.

"Actually that's not a bad picture Castle, send it to me." Castle silently acknowledged that she had liked the idea of a picture together. From what he could remember it was one of the few moments that hadn't been staged or for publicity, just the two of them together.

Beckett took her phone out at hearing the ping and smiled. Castle watched as she reset the picture and nudged her in the shoulder when she set it as his caller ID. "Happy?" she halfway kidded before turning her nose up. "What is that smell?"

"Wild dogs. They always smell like that." Beckett held her nose and shook her head.

"That's worse than death," she remarked as Castle gave her a surprised glance. She had very rarely made a joke about the job but after another whiff, he agreed about the thought.

Before making the whole African circle, Beckett quickly eyed the sign to the reptile house and made her way in the direction, only stopping when Castle whined and pulled her toward something he wanted to see.

Castle finally let Beckett's hand fall when he grabbed the door to the reptile house and held it open for her. She actually acknowledged his gesture and thanked him before hunting the hall for someone that was dressed for work. "Excuse me," she called at the one person dressed in all tan.

"Yes?"

She pulled out her badge and flashed it at the keeper. "Detective Beckett and this is Richard Castle. We were wondering if there was anyone one here today that we could talk to about the snake that was involved in a murder a few nights ago."

The man looked to either side of him in the hall and saw it was pretty clear. "Yeah, come on back. I had a presentation but it doesn't seem like anyone is interested." Castle shot up his hand. Grabbing his hand and lowering it for him, Beckett rolled her eyes and followed the caretaker in the back.

"There's not a lot of room but we can meet around the table there." The man closed the door behind him and suddenly Beckett's cop mode fell and she stopped. She could hear them moving and hissing and rattling as she moved past the cages. Castle stopped and saw the skull and crossbones on the cages and whipped out his phone to take pictures. The flash went off and the guy turned.

"Dude! You're going to piss them off. Put it away. There are species back here that don't need help getting agitated." Castle looked at Beckett and quickly slipped his phone back in his pocket. For once she was glad he listened. He moved closer to her.

"You ok?"

"I don't like snakes," she whispered as Castle felt her hands stiffly pressed against the table in a fist. She was like a board; she couldn't move. He suddenly was concerned and put his arm around her. After the minor irritation and eye glare, her stiffness decreased as she felt his warmth next to her.

Castle took out his phone once more and pulled the picture up he had taken the night before. "So this is our guy. We caught it in a apartment last night after the second victim was bit."

"Yeah, I heard about that tagging last night on the news. Girl should be ok; we had a guy get hit last year and after losing a couple of fingers, he came back to work." Castle could feel Beckett cringe and shake in his arm.

"We were hoping to find out if you had any shipments that may have gone astray lately. We found the shipping container it was in and it had SHHS stamped on it."

"Ahh, there's a lot of trading that goes on between members on that site. You could have anyone that works here or any nut that thinks he can take care of them at home. By the way, you got a Taipan, deadliest snake in the world, but they're not prone to bite unless you really make 'em mad."

The keeper walked away and came back a few minutes later with an aquarium. Before Beckett could jump, the keeper parked the aquarium in front of her. Castle held her as she tried to move back but didn't want her knocking over the aquariums on the rickety shelves behind them.

"This here is your snake. You can take pictures, and poke it and handle them and they usually don't bite. So your snake was definitely not enjoying his time with whomever he bit."

Beckett looked ill. "Thanks, you can put it away now." The keeper nodded and removed the tank as Beckett let out a deep breath that Castle swore she held the entire time the box was on the table. "I want to get out of here," she whispered to Castle just as the keeper came back into the room.

"Hey Joe, come here. I got a couple of cops looking for info about that snake from the news." Beckett and Castle let the cops phrase pass but looked enthusiastically at Joe. Joe just stopped.

"Joe, we just want to ask a few questions," Beckett replied as Castle bumped her in the arm. She saw it too. She moved toward him and Joe turned toward the door.

"Thank you for your time," Castle hollered as suddenly Joe took off out of the door and Beckett took chase. He watched Beckett take off in the direction of the man and quickly made a decision. He heard a familiar voice as he passed his daughter and then turned another corner. Joe looked behind him just as Castle stepped in front of him and pushed him to the ground.

Alexis came around the corner as Beckett rounded the other corner and saw Castle now holding the man face down to the floor with Joe's nametag in his hand. Beckett ran up to him and took the nametag and then spied Alexis. "So this is what my dad does all day?"

Beckett conceded by nodding. "Occasionally, he was lucky the building is a square." Turning her attention to the man underneath Castle's knee. "Joe Singlio, you're under arrest." She knelt down next to him. "Castle?"

"Oh yeah," he got up and smiled proudly at her daughter and her boyfriend. "See? I am helpful and I do do something besides sit around and pester Beckett all day." He looked down at Beckett as she was pulling the man off the floor and trying to calm the patrons walking through the reptile house. She looked back behind her at the other keeper that had helped and handed Castle a card.

"Give it to him and meet me outside. I got a call someone to come get him." Castle nodded and walked back down to have a few words with the other keeper. "Alexis, are you and Ashley going to be ok getting home?"

"Sure," she smiled as Ashley took her hand and reassured Beckett. Beckett nodded and started out the door with the man in handcuffs.

"Sorry Castle," she said as she finished calling for backup. "We're going to have to finish our date another time." She started off toward the exit with Joe in front. She pursed her lips together, feeling somewhat excited about trying to flirt with him. She noticed Castle hadn't yet caught up to her and then looked back, still tugging on the man in handcuffs.

She broke into a grin seeing him and then continued on to the exit.

When the squad car arrived to take her man to the twelfth, she sat down on the bench next to Castle and bumped him in the shoulder. "You know we really are going to have to take a raincheck? Gotta get this character to talk."

Castle agreed. "But you called it a date."

"Yeah, maybe I did," Beckett pretended not to remember exactly and then stuck her hand in the cotton candy bag. "At least you got the pink. The blue just tastes funny." Castle grinned and popped another wad into his mouth.


	9. A Horrible Friend

_A/N - Just this and one more chapter for this story. Thanks for reading!_

* * *

><p>Chapter 9 – A Horrible Friend<p>

"Jacob Harper," Beckett said calmly as she laid the picture of the battered and broken man down in front of Joe. They had immediately started the interrogations of the zoo keeper when they got back to the precinct. "Now, I'm not going to ask if you know this person because it's on your face and typically when suspects run from me, it's a pretty good indication they are guilty of something."

Castle sat next to her and looked at the kid who couldn't be much older than a high school graduate. This was the moment that Castle always had trouble deciding if the look on the suspect's face was genuine and upset or just a façade for a story that they were getting ready to concoct. When Joe's face hit the table and the sobbing started, he had his answer.

Beckett and Castle looked at each other quizzically and then back at the young man that continued to pout in his arms. "Sir? Jacob?" When Castle wasn't answered, he looked over in Beckett's direction and silently shrugged.

"Let's leave him for a bit," Beckett suggested as she picked up the file with the picture and headed out the door. She walked out of the interrogation room as Esposito and Ryan came out of the observation.

"What's wrong with him?" Ryan asked. Everyone looked at Castle.

"What?" Then it dawned on him. "You want me to spin the story. Ok, Joe and Jake knew each other and went in on buying a real cool pet. They got a little rough with it and Jake got the death sentence. But Joe didn't want to get caught and thought the suicide out the window of the building would be a better story."

Beckett and Ryan glanced at each other and shrugged. The story was actually not that far off base, much milder than they had thought Castle could come up with. They wrote some of the theories on the board before checking on Joe. He still had his head down.

"Yo," Esposito turned the corner and handed a sheet to Beckett. "Found something interesting that might explain our suspect's little breakdown. That Taipan was traded through the SHHS, bought by one Jacob Harper and delivered in the crate to … get this Joe Singlio in apartment"

"3B," Beckett and Castle said in unison. Looking immediately at the boys, they both knew it was coming.

"Love how you do that. Anyway, They thought the pet would be cool to go with their new business. In fact when CSU canvassed the rest of that particular apartment, they found an entire bedroom at the back of the apartment, one wall was all snake cages, all venomous." Esposito finished the story and saw Beckett visibly tremble. "It's ok, they're not bringing them here."

Beckett nodded and then rubbed her hand through her hair looking at the board and the new information that Castle added as Esposito spoke. "But that doesn't explain Jacob's death." Beckett leaned against her desk and rubbed shoulders with Castle before glancing up at him. Meeting his gaze, their eyes were soft.

Ryan rounded the corner but felt an arm pull him back, "Mom and dad are having a moment," he cautioned as they watched the two from across the room.

After a few more seconds, Ryan broke free and walked up in between them, trying not to show he noticed. "Your guy's feeling a little better."

Beckett jumped up from the edge of the desk and grabbed Castle by the coat sleeve before they headed back into the interrogation room. She paused at the door, looking at Joe who was finally not buried in his hands and then opened the door.

"Can we talk now?" she asked almost snidely as she and Castle sat across from him.

Joe just nodded and then leaned his head on one hand and pouted some more. "It just sucks that I killed my best friend." Beckett threw a surprising glance in Castle's direction, shocked it would go that easily. "I didn't really kill him, but I gave it opportunity."

"What do you mean? Did you kill him or not? Remember Mr. Singlio, this can be used in a court against you."

The man nodded and then started in on his tale. "I had Jacob pick up the snake at the shipping yard when I knew it came in, but it wasn't really his. I have a collection almost as good as the one at the zoo in my apartment."

"Yes, CSU found them and are currently looking at ways to disperse them out of animal control," Beckett explained.

"I have permits for all of them. You can check the file cabinet next to the freezer. All of them are legit, including Tony."

"Tony?" Castle questioned.

"The taipan. I name them all. Your team will find his aquarium labeled and all. It was just a mistake. I was in the apartment and Jacob showed up with the snake. I had all the equipment to take care of transferring him from the box to the aquarium. Jacob had come out of the room," Joe paused and his hands covered his face. "I'm going to jail for growing pot aren't I?"

Castle couldn't help but chuckle until Beckett elbowed him in the ribs and glared at him. "Possibly, but right now it's for murder."

Joe just shook his head. "It's not murder. See Jacob was coming out of the room with the pot and I asked what he was doing. He said just looking around but I saw him wipe his hands off on a towel. I didn't put the two and two together until I let Tony out of the box. Taipan's are supposed to be really calm venomous snakes and I've handled them before so I didn't think it was big deal. Then Jacob attempted to tail him, grab him by the tail, and WHAP, that snake just turned around a bit him on the arm." Joe paused and his face suddenly fell less animated as he thought about what happened.

Beckett and Castle looked at each other and then back at Joe.

"Then I figured it out, but I was trying to help Jacob and the snake kind of got away. Jacob was already having a seizure and when I looked at the bite, I could smell it."

"What?" Castle asked. Outwardly he couldn't show the utter fascination he had with this whole story.

"The rat pee. The snake wasn't after Jacob, he thought Jacob was food. That's the reason he envenomated him so much. He was hungry and Jacob had been playing with the rats right before. It's a common rule among herpers. You never play with snakes' food before you put your hand in a cage. Guess he didn't know."

The three sat in silence for a while longer until Beckett sighed. Castle had seen the look on her face before but very rarely with a suspect. She felt sorry for him and the situation. He was a kid mixed up between legal and illegal activities and the legal activity was getting him busted for something worse. "Why didn't you take him to the hospital?"

Joe stopped and stared at the table, rubbing his hands through his hair. "I panicked. I was supposed to have antivenom at the apartment as part of protocol but I didn't have the money for it. If I took him to the hospital, I would lose my licenses for the animals at home and my job. And then the pot."

"And how about the crate and Jacob's flying leap out of the window?" Castle asked.

Joe looked up at him and then back down at his hands. "I took the crate back that night after the cops got done talking to people in the building."

Beckett sat up and leaned forward in almost shock. "You talked to the cops that night?"

"Yeah, they just came to the door and asked if I heard anything? They really weren't specific, so I wasn't either." Beckett's eyes rolled as Castle could see the irritation that was flowing through her veins. Someone in a uniform was going to get it.

"The jump?"

"Yeah, I drug him up there after he started foaming at the mouth and cried all the way back to my apartment. God I feel like crap." Joe's head hit the table again and Beckett motioned to Castle to follow her out of the room. They stood in the observation room with Esposito and Ryan as the man continued to lay on the table.

"Your friend dies at the hand of your pet. Damn that sucks. I'm not sure if this outcome is going to make Alexis feel any better." Castle crossed his arms and turned his lip up in disgust.

"Well, I know they'll bust him on the charges of growing weed in the apartment, but I'm not sure how the DA wants to handle the rest of this. He didn't kill him, so I'm not sure how they'll approach it." Beckett explained as the guys watched the man break down again. He was beating himself up over the death more than any jail cell could. "Anyway, get him in holding and I'll work on getting the paperwork pushed through. Espo? What about the snakes?"

"Talk to someone at that SHHS and they're putting them up on the site for trades. Animal control is already fielding calls from around the country for zoos wanting them." Beckett nodded and then followed the boys out of the room.

When Beckett sat down at her desk and started typing Castle leaned over toward her. "You know this is where I usually either sit and stare at you longingly or leave." He watched as her head turned in his direction and her eyes rolled but couldn't help laughing at his enticing grin. Covering his face with her hand, she pushed him back off the desk and shook her head again.

"Go home Castle." He pouted in her direction. "Look, the man is worked up enough. I was going to push his paperwork through, call Lanie to check Jacob for the rat pee story and then head home." She paused, not leaving his gaze. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Castle pulled back and furrowed his brow in question, "Your day off is tomorrow." Without saying a word, Beckett smiled at him and winked. Castle returned the satisfied look, patted her on the arm, and walked toward the elevator.


	10. Closer

_A/N - So this is the last chapter of Bitten. Thanks for the readers and be looking for the short 3-4 parter ad the end of A Place Outside coming all this weekend to end my sumer break. _

Chapter 10 - Closer

Castle walked into the living room and saw his daughter and Ashley cozy on the couch. After the first time of seeing them together, he was able to minimize his shock and try to be civil. Of course that last time, he was holding a gun. "Hey daughter," he said as she popped off the couch and hugged him.

"Did they find him, the killer?" Alexis asked as she followed her father into the kitchen to grab a drink.

"Sort of. He really didn't kill him." Castle continued on with his story as he heated up the rest of the dinner that his daughter had been nice enough to leave him. Sitting down at the counter and watching the movie over the couch where his daughter and her boyfriend cuddled, he silently appreciated that she was mature enough to even have him stay in the same room with them.

He cleaned up and headed into the office. "Not all night ok?"

Alexis smiled and looked up at her dad. "What are you doing?"

"Writing a little before bed. Tomorrow, I'm not so sure but Beckett has the day off. Might go do something." He closed the door as Alexis looked at her boyfriend and smiled to herself. They had been cozy, more so than in the past. She wasn't going to pry anymore until he was ready but she was going to keep her fingers crossed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Castle shuffled across the living room floor and answered the door at the ungodly hour on the following day. Seeing as his daughter had already made her way to her friend's house for the day, he found time to sleep in, or so he thought. "What?" he rubbed his eyes and threw open the door.

"Hi," Beckett offered as she pushed a coffee into Castle's loose hand before pushing her way into the door. Castle closed the door and faced her. She was different this morning. Chipper almost. "Did you forget?"

"No, I just figured you said a day off and that meant you would actually sleep in and enjoy the day off before coming here." Castle leaned on the counter across from Beckett and stared at her through his still blurry eyes.

"Come on, go get dressed. I'm taking you to breakfast and then out." Beckett glared at him as he slowly down the coffee and undid the string on the robe to reveal a t-shirt and boxers. Beckett took an extra long look at Castle and realized that she had never quite seen him in this form, even when she stayed at his place after hers had gone up in flames.

"What are we doing?" she heard from inside what she could only guess was the hidden lair of a bedroom.

"You'll see, but let's just say you owe me." She sat down on the couch and patiently waited as she looked around the loft. For such a little boy attitude, she always marveled at the neatness of his place. She liked the hominess feel she always got, not the stuffiness that she pictured the first time she was there. It was hard but she occasionally had to remind herself who Castle really was.

"Is this ok?" he asked as he walked out in jeans and a plaid button down shirt. He still was nursing the coffee that she had delivered to him. "Because if you're expecting more, you're going to have to come back later," he tried to joke as he reached down beside her for his coat on the chair.

"No, it's fine, but we have to hurry." Beckett opened the front door and Castle motioned her out first.

Castle found himself exactly back where he had been the day before but with an entirely new Beckett. She was transformed into what he could only describe as himself. She was animated and actually smiling through the traffic in town and the line at the front of the entrance. When she finally got up to the gate, she smiled at the admission woman and said, "I have a meeting with James Griffin."

The woman told her to hold on and wait over by the main office entrance. "So, what happened after I left yesterday because I like this new Kate Beckett?" Beckett threw him a strange glance and he elaborated. "Your excitement I guess; I just never see you so animated."

"I talked to the zoo director last night about his employee and the fact he would be needing to find him a replacement and why. The director thanked me profusely and offered me free passes for a year and asked if there was anything I wanted. And I kind of said you helped on the case." Castle's eyebrows raised knowing that meant they were off to the zoo again. Castle thought secretly that it could end up being their place, strange but seemed to work for them.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

As the two entered the lion's portion of the African exhibit, Castle followed behind Beckett and James. The two stopped at one of the rocky surface hidden doors and waited as James unlocked the lock. Upon entering the restricted area, James locked the door back and then hollered down the narrow hallway at another keeper.

"Hey, I'm Kendra," the woman stuck her hand out and shook Beckett's and smiled at Castle before shaking his. "Hey, I have all your books." Then it dawned on her, "your Nikki Heat, or the inspiration huh?"

Beckett tried to not look too excited about the idea that people still addressed her as Nikki Heat. Kendra looked up at Castle and pointed a finger. "So if this ends up in a book, I give her permission to kill you. This is highly unorthodox for us to allow, but I do what my boss tells me." Kendra glanced at Beckett who returned the warning glance at Castle before following James and Kendra further back into the strange winding tunnels of iron gates and cages. James opened up another door and waited for the other three to enter before shutting it.

Kendra held out a bottle of hand sanitizer and squirted a little in both Castle and Beckett's hand as James opened the door. Beckett and Castle stood on the other side of the room as two lion cubs pounced into the room. Beckett's face lit up like a preschooler. Castle stood back and pulled out his phone, showing it first to Kendra. She nodded and said a few.

The two cubs weighed as much as small child even being only a several weeks old. Kendra got on the floor with Beckett and pulled down two bottles and handed one to Beckett as she cradled one of the cubs in her arms. Castle couldn't get over the happiness that beamed from Beckett's face. He had never seen her so happy, like she had been transported to somewhere where she didn't have to worry about anything that ever plagued her.

Castle continued snapping pictures with the phone as the cub continued to try to climb up Beckett's torso as she pulled the almost empty bottle further away from the cub. James handed her one more bottle and continued feeding the cub. She finally got it still enough to pose with her smile for Castle. He leaned back against the wall and just watched as she continued playing with the cubs even after they fed.

"Castle, come on." Beckett motioned for him to join her and he sat down on the concrete next to and immediately a cub pounced in his lap. "Wow," was all he could come up.

"Cat got your tongue?" Beckett asked as he held the cub in his arms, trying to keep it from licking him clear across the face. She laughed as the cub in her hand just attacked her in the face, leaving a slobbery path across her cheek.

"Haha," Castle answered as he held the heavy cub against his torso. He glanced over and saw that Kate had finally gotten her cub to calm down or at least play with the cub in Castle's arms. Castle finally was able to get one hand up underneath the cub and tap Beckett on the hand and glanced up at Kendra, who was still snapping pictures. The two looked up and finally got a picture they would never forget.

The two handed the cubs back to Kendra and James before finding their way back out of the cat entrance. When Kate finally got out of the cat area, she surprised Castle with a large hug around the neck. "That was so neat! My mom would have totally flipped." She let go and grabbed Castle's hand almost instinctively and then looked up at him. He was in awe. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah," he whispered almost incomprehensible as Beckett watched the adult lions through the window now. She looked around and saw that the zoo's opening just a few minutes earlier did not immediately produce people at the cat's lair. Taking the moment, she squeezed in between the bar in front of the glass and Castle.

Castle took a small step back to make room for her but then felt her pull his hand around her waist as she leaned between him and the window, watching the lions. Castle breathed in and closed his eyes smelling the faint cherries smell from her hair. Opening his eyes, he saw the lion right in front of the window and jumped back a little.

Beckett turned, feeling his body move back from hers. "What is it?"

"Nothing, I just got surprised," Castle was completely tongue tied. He looked and pulled on Beckett's jacket as a group of kids showed up to stare through the window. The two passed Kendra and thanked here again before walking through the rest of the zoo at a pace much slowed than the day before.

As the sun started hiding behind the buildings in the city, Castle and Beckett arrived back at his loft. She stood outside his building next to her car and smiled as Castle got out of the car. "So are you interested in coming up? I could make us some dinner."

Beckett nodded. "No, not tonight. I actually have a dinner made at home." She caught Castle's doubtful look. "Really, I made some extra pasta last night and it's not from a carton. I had the taste for it and I have some leftovers. Anyway, I have a new book to start tonight."

She saw Castle's questioning eye. "I haven't written anything new in awhile."

"Yeah, you need to remedy that," Beckett kid. "No really, I got a Nelson Demille book, The Lion's Game. I thought I would stick to a theme for the day." Castle nodded in agreement. He moved toward Beckett and wasn't quite sure how to thank her for the day. It was a different kind day for the both of them.

He stopped when Beckett moved a step closer to him. "Thank you for today. It was a nice date, different," Castle responded as she gazed up at him and agreed silently. He was about to move away but felt Beckett's hand on his arm and looked back at her.

Beckett smiled before pulling Castle close into her. Standing on her tiptoes, she barely brushed her lips to his and then pulled back with her hand still in his. They both stood silent while trying to read each other's feelings. It was Castle that spoke first. "Until tomorrow?" he said softly. He let go of her hand and just barely heard her agree with him. He watched as she got back in the car and started away before he turned and went into the building, trying to not notice the giddy look on the doorman's face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Beckett walked into the precinct and saw the coffee cup on her desk and smiled. "So where is Castle?" she asked as Esposito and Ryan tried to ignore the strange happy look on her face.

"We don't know. He walked in and left that. Maybe he went to the break room," Ryan tried to suggest and glanced over at Esposito, trying to hide the insistent bark of laughter that was trying to escape him.

Beckett sat down and took a drink of her coffee and closed her eyes. It was strange that now even the taste of coffee touching her lips reminded her of the small kiss from yesterday. She put the cup down and turned on the computer. "Hey Beckett, you got another pen. My last one just ran out," she heard from Esposito across the way.

"Sure," she answered as she opened the desk drawer and looked over. "OH SHI!" Beckett screamed as she flung the drawer on the floor, throwing things in all directions. She glared at the drawer and then at Ryan and Esposito that were buckled over in laughter.

She reached in the drawer and picked up the rubber snake and seethed between her teeth. She looked behind her and screamed as she saw the figure in the stairwell.

"CASTLE!"

_The End_


End file.
